Wiffle bot---Ross Patterson as former wiffle ball star Ted Whitfield in the mockumentary Screwball: The Ted Whitfield Story99% of the time...I will not laugh at low brow humor. The 1% is reserved mostly for the films of Ross Patterson such as Strike! and Poolboy: Drowning Out The Fury. His latest---Screwball: The Ted Whitfield Story does not stray from the pattern of hilariously crude comedies Patterson has done. This is a laugh out loud comedy that features one thing no other Patterson film has featured---someone outshining Patterson.
Although the film revolves around Patterson's character---Ted Whitfield...a former wiffle ball star...the real laughs come from actor Joey Kern. You may remember him as Sweet Lou in the skateboarding comedy Grind or as the guy driving the weed filled car at the beginning of Super Troopers. Here he plays Willie Hamilton....Ted's former teammate and a complete stoner. Kern provides perfect comic timing for each one of his lines. There's a gag towards the end that involves him as a door to door salesman that is absolutely drop dead from laughing funny. Christine Lakin is unrecognizable as Willie's wife Kiki. Lakin is very funny as well. Patterson is hilarious as always but for the most part...this is Kern's show.
Most of the time...the film draws a fine line between ridiculous and offensive. When Ted recalls his many sexual encounters...the audience gets the feeling that Patterson is trying to test us. Being that Patterson both delivers these lines in the raunchiest way possible and that he wrote the screenplay....I wouldn't be surprised if this were true.
The film is crude and as dumb as it gets. I can see where people will get off not liking it. There are really no redeeming qualities to it and you'll feel guilty for laughing at it. However....if you are in the mood for many sex jokes, dirty words and stereotypical humor...this is the film for you. Also...the credits feature a hysterical song parody involving the sport of wiffleball.
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